Δευτέρα 5 Σεπτεμβρίου 2011
International Youth Year, Praxis Greece: Letter-writing competition: London 2012 Olympics
International Youth Year, Praxis Greece: Letter-writing competition: London 2012 Olympics: The Olympic Movement seeks to create a better world through sports, by promoting the universal values of excellence, friendship and resp...
Παρασκευή 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2011
Story telling and Young Learners
“When children create and tell a story in the foreign language the story and the language become theirs” (Wright 1996).
Story telling is an appealing and motivating, real life activity that can be used in the EFL classroom as a valuable and enjoyable resource for promoting language learning. Listening and narrating stories is a familiar procedure for all learners in their mother tongue and it takes several forms. Reporting one’s own stories and personal anecdotes or telling jokes is a fascinating, everyday routine that people enjoy sharing with each other. The universal nature of stories in relation to their content and structure and the cultural elements that they convey make them relevant to the learners’ interests and background. Moreover they are easily accessible and there is a wide variety of sources, such as the media, songs, myths, fables, fairytales etc., from which they can be drawn.
Stories are not only closely related to the learners’ experiences but they provide a “rich comprehensible input and a stimulus for real communication in English” (Rossner 1988). Their use in the classroom is not a passive process. They are employed as a stimulating starting point for further activities that promote purposeful learning within a meaningful, familiar and relaxed context and provide practice in language, social and communication skills. An extremely motivating and fun activity is the retelling of a story by the learners themselves, after it has been presented by the teacher, whereby they are given the chance to use the language for real communication and internalize its aspects while being creative and having fun.
It has been already mentioned that stories have a universal appeal and that children are familiar with them from an early age, either in the form of traditional and folk tales or as everyday events to which they are constantly and naturally exposed. The young learners are “natural story-tellers” (Jennings 1991) in their own mother tongue because they assimilate the structure and the information of the stories and then they recreate it and form new ones. This procedure can be applied in the teaching of English for a variety of purposes.
Story telling is an appealing and motivating, real life activity that can be used in the EFL classroom as a valuable and enjoyable resource for promoting language learning. Listening and narrating stories is a familiar procedure for all learners in their mother tongue and it takes several forms. Reporting one’s own stories and personal anecdotes or telling jokes is a fascinating, everyday routine that people enjoy sharing with each other. The universal nature of stories in relation to their content and structure and the cultural elements that they convey make them relevant to the learners’ interests and background. Moreover they are easily accessible and there is a wide variety of sources, such as the media, songs, myths, fables, fairytales etc., from which they can be drawn.
Stories are not only closely related to the learners’ experiences but they provide a “rich comprehensible input and a stimulus for real communication in English” (Rossner 1988). Their use in the classroom is not a passive process. They are employed as a stimulating starting point for further activities that promote purposeful learning within a meaningful, familiar and relaxed context and provide practice in language, social and communication skills. An extremely motivating and fun activity is the retelling of a story by the learners themselves, after it has been presented by the teacher, whereby they are given the chance to use the language for real communication and internalize its aspects while being creative and having fun.
It has been already mentioned that stories have a universal appeal and that children are familiar with them from an early age, either in the form of traditional and folk tales or as everyday events to which they are constantly and naturally exposed. The young learners are “natural story-tellers” (Jennings 1991) in their own mother tongue because they assimilate the structure and the information of the stories and then they recreate it and form new ones. This procedure can be applied in the teaching of English for a variety of purposes.
- The most essential reason for using stories with young learners is that they are motivating and fun.
- Stories are stimulating because they provide an opportunity for the learners to process meaning actively, while being creative.
- Another reason that story telling is considered to be a valuable activity is that it provides an excellent context for the learners to use the language for their purposes, to share their ideas and not just learn about it.
- A relaxed atmosphere is created whereby the most important thing is to help the student overcome his/her inhibitions and adopt “a positive attitude to ‘having a go’ with the language one knows” (Wright 1995) so as to use it for real communication in meaningful situations.
- Furthermore they can be used to trigger the learners’ interest in other subjects across their curriculum.
REFERENCES
- Jennings, C. (1991). Children as Story-tellers. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
- Rossner, R. (1988). The Whole Story: Short Stories for Pleasure and Language Improvement. London: Longman.
- Wright, A. (1995). Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Wright, A. (1996). Creating Stories with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Τετάρτη 11 Μαΐου 2011
Hosting a person with disabilities as a Comenius Assistant
A Comenius Language Assistant from Turkey was hosted by the Second Language School of Serres in the year 2007-08. The fact that she was a person with mobility disabilities made this case particularly interesting. A number of issues had to be taken into consideration such as providing her with suitable accommodation and transport, health insurance and company. In addition the group of teachers had to cooperate closely in order to cater for her needs.
Zeynep brought a new dimension into our school. Adult students, some of whom were experiencing similar problems, often identified with and felt closer to her. A number of actions and projects were implemented with her help including exploring common Greek and Turkish traditions in music, food, shadow theatre (Karagkiozis). She organised a Turkish language course, particularly popular, especially among teachers.
Her contribution was considerable in terms of combating stereotypes and prejudice against people with special needs and from different nationalities. As for Zeynep, she was enthusiastic about the chance given to her to travel abroad, make new friends, get practice in her future profession and become familiar with another neighbouring culture. As for me, her mentor, it was a unique, empowering experience. Zeynep's strength and will was inspirational, and the problems encountered made us become more inventive.
Below you can have a look at the presentation of this Assistantship at the State Scholarships Foundation's (IKY) Induction Meeting, in Athens, 09/12/2008.
Zeynep brought a new dimension into our school. Adult students, some of whom were experiencing similar problems, often identified with and felt closer to her. A number of actions and projects were implemented with her help including exploring common Greek and Turkish traditions in music, food, shadow theatre (Karagkiozis). She organised a Turkish language course, particularly popular, especially among teachers.
Her contribution was considerable in terms of combating stereotypes and prejudice against people with special needs and from different nationalities. As for Zeynep, she was enthusiastic about the chance given to her to travel abroad, make new friends, get practice in her future profession and become familiar with another neighbouring culture. As for me, her mentor, it was a unique, empowering experience. Zeynep's strength and will was inspirational, and the problems encountered made us become more inventive.
Below you can have a look at the presentation of this Assistantship at the State Scholarships Foundation's (IKY) Induction Meeting, in Athens, 09/12/2008.
Σάββατο 16 Απριλίου 2011
Interesting sites on ELT
The possibilities for education, self-development and networking online are infinite, so why not take advantage of them? While attending the IATEFL Conference Online I picked up some interesting sites concerning ELT.
Here they are:
http://www.tesolacademic.org/
http://www.lessonstream.org/
http://www.elgazette.com/
http://tdsig.org/
http://www.learningtimes.org/
Here they are:
- Linking Theory and Practice
http://www.tesolacademic.org/
- Lesson Plans based on digital materials
http://www.lessonstream.org/
- An international English Language Gazette
http://www.elgazette.com/
- IATEFL Teacher Development Special Interest Group
http://tdsig.org/
- An open community of education and training professionals
http://www.learningtimes.org/
Παρασκευή 15 Απριλίου 2011
Κυριακή 20 Μαρτίου 2011
Youth and Education
An excellent video on education, technology and young people.
ENGAGE ME
This is our duty as teachers first and foremost.
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